UPDATE:
she moved under her own power today!!!!
ok ok, at first it was only about
5 feet. Flat Black and a buddy of his drove up to check out and chit-the-chat. it was great to meet them both! but while they were there i fired her up and did some back and forth brake check in the drive.
the brakes seemed quite solid. after Flat & Co. left i wanted to get it off of the drive (so i could park in 'my' spot again) so i was going to pull it forward onto the grass
.... but i couldn't resist: i took it down the street and around the cul-de-sac a couple times. pretty sweet!
already i could tell that my power steering pump upgrade is definitely going to be paying off - this pump seems to flow much better than the other. of course, the other was likely too under-driven.
power - well, that seems like that's going to be fun!
brakes - wow. i mean i haven't really gotten to drive it, but a quick jaunt down the road and ... wow. smooth pedal engagement with about 20% of the required effort. no panic stops yet. i have to dial in the rear proportion, anyway. later.
i only drove it for a minute - i don't have an alternator which means i don't have a serpentine belt on which means i don't have a water pump running.
man i need that alternator!!!
we'll get there.
thanks for all the kind words and support!